Cavs: The Podcast 0016 – The Return of Raab

For those who have read “The Whore of Akron” it should come as no surprise that Scott Raab wants to see this Cavs team winning again (although, lets be honest, anyone reading this blog probably wants to see the Cavs as winners.) On today’s podcast Scott and I got into some real nitty gritty conversation about what direction this Cavs team is headed in. Specifically, we discussed the development of Tristan Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Tyler Zeller, and of course, Neon Dion. In addition, we got into the bench (which hasn’t looked QUITE so terrible recently), Byron Scott as a head coach, and a little discussion on the other two Cleveland sports franchises.

Also, for the sake of civility, lets try to keep this comment section nice. Keep in mind that everything on this podcast is opinion. That being said, let us know what you think about what is discussed.

49 Responses to “Cavs: The Podcast 0016 – The Return of Raab”

I completely agree that within the next 20 years Cleveland will probably lose on their teams with the Indians being the most likely one. From the poor ownership situation to the general lack of interest in fandom they make more sense than the Browns or Cavs. Attendance was embarrassing last year and it’s going to be much worse this year for the Tribe. Sigh…Go Cavs.

I completely disagree that Cleveland will lose one of their teams over the next 20 years. The major sports are reluctant to pull teams out of markets, especially one with a long history. Not going to happen.

The only thing that makes less sense than Tristan Thompson spending all summer working on his mid-range game, is that 22% of his JUMP SHOTS have been blocked. I really like Tristan the player, but Tristan the basketball player is going to need to learn how to protect the rim, because offensively, I think this is who he is.

Of all the things I’d love to be wrong about, I’d most love to be wrong about Cleveland losing one of its franchises. But I can’t think of a single instance where an owner who wished to move his team was prevented from doing so by the NBA, NFL, or MLB.

This is who TT is? At age 21, 73 games into his NBA career? He will never be a great offensive player, but to say this is who he is at this point in time is insane. Big men typically mature well into their mid-to-late twenties.

Tristan must be doing something right, because the Cavs consistently outscore their opponent when he is on the floor according to http://www.82games.com/1213/ROLRTG8.HTM. He leads the team by a fairly significant margin in every +/- stat and rating. Obviously this isn’t the end all of stats, but his impact on the game certainly isn’t as negative as some would be lead to believe just listening to commentators harp on and on about his ugly offensive game.

I’ll just throw this out there as well: Kyrie’s lack of defense hurts the team far more than Tristan’s lack of offense.

MRM – he will never be a great offensive player. That IS who he IS. You’ve said it. #4 picks should be at least GOOD offensive players. He’s a liability on offense. +/- may indicate he is having a greater defensive effect that the eye perceives, or that his backups are just worse (not hard to imagine since the Cavs bench has been so terrible). Hopefully it’s the former and he has real defensive value. He needs to become an elite defender.

I’m really encouraged by the defiant optimism from comment crowd here and at WFNY.

Tom
Of course Cavs fans should be optimistic. We have Irving, Waiters, Andy (I can never spell his last name), and Thompson for the next however many years. These guys are all good players, Irving is already great, and Waiters looks like a stud.

The only people here that are pessimistic are the writers of the blog itself. Just go back and look at the draft day posts. It was ridiculous and continues to be crazily pessimistic even though the Cavs starters have been playing great together. Yes, the bench sucks. Yes, we all wish that Thompson was better (and he still can be!).

This year, we get another high draft pick into the mix and strengthen the bench in the offseason. Have some patience.

I definitely don’t think he’s going to turn into amare stoudemire or josh smith, but I also think claims that Tristan is going to never, ever progress are simply Cleveland sports depressionisms (and that’s CERTAINLY not a word). Tyson chandler is now one of the most efficiently scoring big men in the league. It took him until he was nearly thirty to figure it out. Tristan Thompson turned 21 on March 13th. Give him some time to develop.

Dani – it’s not Cleveland Sports depressionism. It’s just watching him play. Here’s John Hollinger’s analysis. He’s not from Cleveland and exhibits no Cleveland-ism. “Thompson, however, did little else of significance. His catching skills were a major disappointment — any time he catches en route to the rim, he has to stop and gather himself before going up, and for that reason he was constantly stripped around the basket. Thompson also needs to improve his post game; he took a third of his shots from 3 to 9 feet but made only 31.7 percent of them. He has some elements to build on here, as he can get his shot off, but the ball needs to go in. As for jump shooting, just forget it dude. Thompson made 11-of-56 from 10 feet and beyond, with form that suggested it was no fluke.

Thompson disappointed in two other areas. First, he had 27 assists the entire season and had one of the worst assist rates in basketball — you’d like him to show a bit more feel than that. Of greater concern, his defensive rebound rate was among the worst at his position; this was supposed to be a strength of his.

Defensively Thompson took the usual rookie lumps but wasn’t bad in the big picture. He blocked shots at a decent rate and unlike many rookies he wasn’t particularly foul prone, even though he often played center rather than his natural power forward spot. He’ll hold his own at this end; the concern is how well his offense will come around.” -So basically, his strengths are, rebounding, and blocking shots at a decent rate (which has disappeared in year 2). I look at a guy like Waiters and I can project out optimism. I’m always raving about the guy, and in a very limited sample space he hasn’t set the world on fire. I just think he COULD. With Thompson, I struggle to see what is going to change about his offensive game that is going to make him effective. Also – I like the Tyson Chandler thought experiment, that would be great. But I’m not sure that applies. Chandler is 7 feet tall and averages 8 points for his career on mostly dunks. It’d be great if Tristan develops to become our Tyson Chandler. But offensive prowess isn’t why Tyson Chandler is valuable – it’s his defense. that’s what I said – I hope TT becomes a defensive stud. Are there people here that genuinely believe he can be a force on offense when he has zero post game, can’t make any shot that isn’t an uncontested dunk, and can’t make free throws?

Cols714, I think that the majority of the writers for the blog actually bemoaned the idea of contention. I myself wanted a playoff spot. Did I think it likely? No, but I thought it possible, and intoxicating. Mallory isn’t necessarily saying he’s shocked by the cavs ending up in the lottery. I’m not. But forgive me for not being thrilled at the prospect. Forgive me for wishing my favorite team could win some games.

Why do you think the only way to become a good team is to suck for many years, accumulate lottery guys, and then suddenly turn it on?

I ask this because, beyond drafted guys (who, beyond Kyrie, may or may not become stars), what has this organization done that has lead you to believe they have a game plan for becoming an contender?

The fact is you can’t answer that question. And that’s worrisome. Sure, we could all look back in 3 years as we’re playing the Thunder in the finals and laugh about this moment, but odds are that wont be the case. There’s only been one Thunder team that has nailed their lottery picks with quite so much accuracy. And even now, what do they have to show for it? They haven’t won a title yet and just made a trade that was widely panned.

Again, the fact is, there are MANY ways to win in the NBA, and so far the Cavs have given me 0 indication that they have a plan for how they’ll do it.

And to answer your list…They’ve drafted 4 guys in the top 20 in two years. That’s amazing! How are we NOT at least consistently competing in games? Could it be because this organization might not be as together as you think it is?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but I’d like to think we should be better than we are right now.

MF
Who said suck for years? Let me repeat myselft
THEY WERE THE WORST TEAM IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE A MERE 2 YEARS AGO

They are markedly better this year, competing in pretty much every game, but sadly losing most of them. It’s the competitiveness, especially when the starters are in, that makes me think the team is definitely on the right track.

Their draft record has been pretty great.
1. Superstar in Kyrie Irving
2. Dion Waiters looks like a star in the making
3. Thompson looks solid
4. Zeller looks solid

How is this not a good to great draft record?

On the other ways to get good, yes, they will need to sign FAs in the future to augment their core group of guys. And maybe even grab a star in FA. But they are definitely headed in the right direction.

Did you want them to sign a bunch of FAs this past off season so they could maybe contend for the final playoff spot? That would have been extremely short sighted.

I think you are just trolling me (which would be weird since it’s your blog). If you are arguing to trade this year’s roster for the roster that got them in position to draft Kyrie Irving, be my guest. I don’t think you do.

Mallory, if you cannot see the clear difference between the team two years ago and this current team, well, you should quit this blog this minute. As Cols points out, when healthy, this starting 5 was pretty damn good. This was reflected in their top 5 rankings in starters plus/minus. Shite, if the bench played HALF as well as they are now, how many more wins would we currently have?

On TT, nothing is set. I laugh to myself cuz I heard the same things said about Andy and his offense for years! Many seriously suggested he NEVER take a shot ala a Reggie Evans-type. Players get better as they get older. Big men are at least 3 years to show their true colors. To think otherwise is both ignorant and willfully pessimistic…

Tom – There is a WIDE gulf between where Tristan is today offensively, and being a great offensive player. He will likely settle somewhere in between, which means he can substantially improve. What he is today offensively IS NOT what he will be for the rest of his career. Those are your words, not mine. I find your sentiment highly pessimistic and frankly, unreasonable. You badly misinterpreted what I said about his offense. If he is say a 2/10 on offense now, and great is 9/10, he could reach a 5 or 6 in 2-4 years . If he can become an elite defender and an average offensive player, he will be a valuable piece. Championship teams need players like that.

High lottery picks should be valuable players that contribute to winning, offensively or defensively, it doesn’t really matter one way or the other. If Tristan can become a great defensive player and average offensive player, he will live up to his draft status. I don’t think that’s out of reach.

Fun to watch doesn’t necessarily equal wins. And you could say they’re also the most frustrating team to watch because sometimes they look together while other times they’re a mess. Frankly, this team is about as competitive as they were last year with Ramon Sessions coming off the bench. Think we could’ve added a guy like that in FA?????

Cols you’re missing my point entirely. I’ll put it simply. Lets say at the end of this season, where you’ve decreed we should definitely be bad so we can draft high again, we end up with the 4th pick in the draft. We draft player X who turns out to be a mediocre player. Next year he barely contributes, and we add 1 FA who is half decent and takes half a season to get acclimated.

You’ve just wasted an entire year of Kyrie’s contract and Andy’s career to add 1 pro player and a passable guy,

My point is, the prospect of playing the draft and ONLY the draft means that you have to hit your picks. If you don’t (like many of us believe is the case with Tristan, though for the millionth time we’d love to be proven wrong) then you’re automatically back to square one. It’s easy to sit here and say “just tank for a pick, get a good player, then we’ll be good!” It’s much much MUCH harder to actually nail that. What ISN’T hard is adding known talent via trades and FA.

We don’t have any power over Chris Grant, so most of this argument is moot. What is NOT moot, though, is how fans react to the decisions of this organization. If you want to be happy with losing, fine, that’s your prerogative, but I’d like to see my teams held to a higher standard, particularly because losing doesn’t always equal winning later (it usually doesn’t)

I’ll end with this – consider the two most likely scenarios discussed for this team’s losing:

1. Chris Grant and Byron Scott intentionally put together and play a bad bench so we’ll be bad, and lose, so they can have another shot at the lottery.

2. Chris Grant tried to assemble what he thought would be a decent bench and has failed miserably.

Neither of those scenarios brings me joy. Grant has drafted 3 times in the top 4 in the last two years. If he thinks he needs ANOTHER shot at it then he’s nuts, particularly because, at best, the odds of us landing a star are somewhere in the 35% range.. If he thinks this is an NBA bench, he’s equally nuts.

And KJ, to respond to you, as has been mentioned on here MANY times on here by multiple people, the trajectory Andy took is by FAR the exception, not the rule. Thinking TT will suddenly bust out like that is to ignore years and years of lottery failures. If he does, awesome, that’s a bonus, but there’s no reason to play nice with him if he isn’t playing nice for us.

Let me add this as well – if you believe the BS that Chris Grant has some grand 3 year plan or something, you’re buying exactly what he’s selling. He wants nothing more than to have fans accepting losses – isn’t that every GM’s dream? If we win 32 games next year, will I come on here to read people saying it’s growing pains?

The problem truly is the bench. Get an additional 1-2 reasonably decent players and we will be a playoff team. I can only think of 9 guys deserving of playing time in non-blowout games: Irving, Waiters, Varajao, Gibson, Zeller, Thompson, Pargo, Casspi and maybe Miles. Unfortunately, 2 or more of those players goes cold each game (or gets injured) so we simply don’t have enough decent players to fill the court (unless you want your starters to play a million minutes). The fact that we still have Luke Harrongody, Donald Sloan, John Leuer, Samardo Samuels, and Luke Walton on our team shows just how miserable the depths of our roster are!! Our other young players are doing great and really just need more time together, and of course continued dedication and endless practice. I hate to say this, but bring on the draft picks, I’m excited to see our team next year!

I thought their was a rebuilding plan all along. Flip as much junk on the roster into assets for the future as possible. Grant has definitely succeeded at this and they still have the cap room to do it again.

Marquee free agents will not sign in Cleveland unless the Cavs drastically overpay them ala Larry Hughes, Jones, yadda. If the Cavs pick up a major contributor it will probably be via trade. Maybe Rudy Gay…Maybe the Kings won’t want to commit to Boogie long term. We’ll see. Cleveland has the cap room and the draft picks to make their own Harden trade…Next year.

I saw Grant’s rebuild as three years in the lottery and selecting two first rounders each year to improve his odds of hitting on three foundation players and hopefully a couple solid contributors. Thus far it looks like he’s hit a homer with Kyrie and between a double a triple on Dion. Presti hit three home runs.

This isn’t a terrible time to be rebuilding either. The Heat are going to own the East this season and next, but cracks will start to show in two years from them being thoroughly capped out and Wade’s impending fall off the wall.

Look dude, this team is better than it’s been at any point since losing LeBron. It’s talented, fun to watch, and competitive. Chris Grant has done a very admirable job in drafting good players and has not commited the NBA sin of signing mediocre talent to big contracts just to satisfy the impatient fanbase that is seemingly the writers of Cavs The Blog.

When FAs that can actually change the tragectory of the team, I’m sure the Cavs will go after them.

As another thought experiment – I’m going full blown “Cleveland”-mode. Some of you need to face reality, or puberty or something.

1. Kyrie Irving is considered by many to be the worst defensive player in the entire NBA. Much of his reputation is due to him being the most clutch player in the NBA last season. Ask any analyst, and they will tell you, “clutchness” is a mirage. Last year his “clutch” stats projected out to 53 points over 48 minutes at a staggering 58% eFG. So far this year that has been cut in half. 25 points over 48 minutes at a dismal 27% eFG. So yeah, live by the clutch gene die by the clutch gene. His defense hasn’t improved, and he looks injury prone. The Cavs have a better Point differential (significantly) since he got injured.
2.) Dion waiters looks like a rookie. No one sporting a 12.5 PER gets to be called “a star in the making”. Perhaps, star POTENTIAL is what you mean. If he reaches his ultimate potential he could be DWade-light. He could easily become the next Tyreke Evans – a disappointment.
3.) In what way does Thompson look solid? Scott is electing to play him less than half the time the game is in the balance. Stats seem to indicate that he’s holding opposing PF to a putrid 9.6 PER. If the Cavs trade Varejao, as a lot of fans are clamoring for, that number doubles overnight. He can’t catch, he’s lost the ability to block shots, he’s blocked at a riDONKulous rate, and he’s shown no discernible elite skill at any time in his pro career other than being in the top-15 in offensive rebound rate behind such “solid” players as JJ Hickson and Javale McGee.
4.) Zeller looks “solid”? Which part? The 9.3 PER? The fact that he’s shooting 41% from the field or 48% from the FT line? Which is the solid part? The non-diarrhea part, if you will. Oh, he “runs the floor” – ok. So we’re projecting again. Alright, Zeller projected to be a low-risk below average NBA big. A serviceable backup. But us eternal optimist Cavs fans have him becoming the next Kevin Love even though he hasn’t hit a 3 point shot in 6 years.

How is this not a good draft record? Maybe it is a good draft record. What have the Cavs supplemented this draft record with? They hired a players coach to keep LeBron and then LeBron left and now the Cavs don’t run an offense and have maybe the worst defense in the NBA. They add CJ Miles and Omri Casspi, who round out the worst bench in the NBA. They may be “headed in the right direction” if: Irving starts playing defense, Waiters turns into at least Monta Ellis, Thompson becomes as Dani suggested the next Tyson Chandler, they somehow draft right next year, they add an all-star small forward, and either draft a stud center, or keep varejao. That’s a NUT TON of IFFs (if and only if). And most of that hinges on player development, of which, I’ve seen NONE from B Scott. Other than Varejao, which players has IMPROVED as their career progressed with this regime? Casspi? Nope. Thompson? Not yet. Kyrie (early returns are regression), Danny Green? (now I’m trolling).

It’s OK TO BE CRITICAL AND UNDERWHELMED RIGHT NOW. We don’t have to be blatant homers and pretend we are the next OKC and with enough time we will evolve into that. As I see it? No one on the Cavs even remotely compares to Durant. Kyrie is slightly less valuable than Westbrook right now, offensively it’s a joke to compare Thompson and Ibaka, and all the assets the Thunder just acquired for Harden is less than the assets the cavs have going forward.

There is a wide range from being blatant homers and also being overly critical and underwhelmed.
I’m choosing to see the positive developments in the team and enjoy watching the starters play. I think it looks like this team is going in the right direction. That’s not blatant homerism, that’s what I see and think.

You obviously see things differently. But that doesn’t mean that you get to claim the high road that you are not being a blatant homer.

And what is the deal with the OKC comparisons? Who is comparing the Cavs to OKC?

Cols I don’t know how you can argue that they’re better than last year – before Andy and Kyrie got injured, they were actually half decent (remember when we all talked about the playoffs when the reason started and we won a bunch?)

Again you fail to understand what I’m saying – if Waiters, Zeller, and TT (to some degree) don’t become good to great players, than no matter WHO we draft next year, we’re not going to be a great team. If we miss next year, the same mentality stands.

What I am arguing isn’t that we should sign players like mad, trade for Bynum, blah blah blah – I’m arguing for a change in mentality here, and it’s an argument I’ve made since day one – give me a known asset over an unknown any day. I keep hearing people tell me that Tristan could become great. The key word there is not great, it’s COULD.

Back to the Thunder model – imagine what happens if Westbrook isn’t the Westbrook we love – is this team this effing good? No way. Not a chance. And that’s with a top 5 player on their team – despite how great Kyrie is, chances are he wont be top 5.

You can call me pessimistic, but I consider this realism – putting all your eggs in one basket (i.e. the draft) isn’t pragmatic – if it fails, then you’re stuck in the infinite cycle a la the Kings (who, by the way, have a great young player in Boogie Cousins whose talent will likely get wasted, and he’ll bolt)

The argument that losing leads to winning is so incredibly flawed that it continues to astound me that people are so welcoming of it. ONCE in the last 10 years has consistent losing lead to a winner, and that team still doesn’t have an NBA championship. What has worked more, though, is having a star and then surrounding him with smart FAs, Vets, and then drafting well WHERE EVER you sit (Dallas) or trading for half decent players who compliment each other (Detroit) – neither of those teams spent prolonged periods in the cellar. Bill Simmons can talk about that zone of mediocrity all he wants, but that doesn’t make it 100% fact. Assuming Kyrie is a megastar, we’re safely out of that zone (as long as he sticks around) – drafting at the 5 position wont change that.

As for why I keep comparing this team to the Thunder…dude everyone has compared what Grant is doing to the Thunder.

MF
Isn’t this true of every team? Of course you have to draft good to great players.

My argument isn’t that they should be tanking every season in order to get the #1 pick every year. My point is that this is a young and improving team with the potential to be good with more time.

Who said anything about putting all our eggs in one basket? No one is saying to build only through the draft. You build the team in various ways. They seem to have done well in the draft and FA and trades will come along.

What you seem to want is an instant contender. Being that we aren’t LA or Boston, that isn’t going happen.

I don’t think anyone is asking for an instant contender. But I do think it’s reasonable that people like seeing the Cavs win. And Cols, you confound me. You claim to be pleased with the Cavs’ continued losing, yet complain that a blog about a losing team is so depressing. You can’t really have it both ways.

Like Tom said, it’s WAYYYYY too early to make a judgement on Waiters – he’s been on this team for 13 games and has a PER of 12.63 – nothing about that indicates stardom. He’s explosive, but also shoots way too much. Only time can tell there. Honestly, even for Kyrie, it’s still to early to tell.

I just don’t understand the 3 year plan thing – why is that the mindset? Who said 3 years. What happens if whoever we draft stinks next year? I know I keep asking this, but the fact remains, the draft is where flops happen. High risk, high reward, heavy on the risk.

The problem with FAs isn’t just that we can’t lure the big ones – you don’t nec. need a BIG one to win – it’s that we signed the wrong ones. Remember, the same year Hughes was signed Joe Johnson got stolen from the Suns. Imagine we give HIM max money instead of Hughes (he could’ve signed our offer sheet and not been matched)

Smart signings are so easy in hindsight, as is drafting. All you can do is give yourself the best odds of winning. That summer, the argument, at least from my memory, was Hughes vs Johnson. We had a 50/50 shot there. In a draft? Much lower odds.

As I said in one of my bazillion responses above, it’s all moot. All we can do is watch for the future. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit by and cheer as we lose. No way.

I may be remembering things wrong, but I’m pretty sure that last year, the cavs didn’t beat a single opponent above .500 until we beat Dallas, which was 22 games into the season. This year, the cavs have played 10 out of their first 14 games on the road and 9 of them currently have a record above .500 and 2 of them are at .500. I’m not sure if this team is better than last years team, but our schedule has definitely been much more difficult.

Tom,
I’m kind of surprised by the depth of your pessissism. Obviously, Kyrie needs alot of work on defense, but he is an amazing offensive player. He can totally be a top-5 offensive player in the league, and you have to expect his defense to improve some. Tristan is making strides in his shooting efficiency. He’s ahead of where Emeka Okafor was at in true shooting percentage in Okafor’s second season, and Okafor debuted in the NBA at an older age than TT is now. Tristan’s defensive rebounding has improved from last year, and I think he’s on a decent track. I always liked Zeller and Waiters and still do.

Also, this early schedule is not remotely representative. Certainly some struggles are attributable to that, and you can’t argue otherwise.

The defensive rating of the Cavs opponents so far this year is: 3rd, 4th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 28th. That’s almost half their games against top-nine defenses with 9 of 13 against above-average D’s. They’ve rarely gotten a chance to beef up their numbers against the NBA’s dregs (Miami is 23rd in that list).

Tonight doesn’t get any better against the league’s 5th best defense.

Furthermore, 9 of 13 games have been on the road, including one of the season’s two west coast trips.

All this talk and no one’s mentioned that coaching is a huge failing of this team? The inconsistent rotations, the lack of a sound defensive scheme, etc, etc. When healthy, this team would be an average offense strictly based on PnRs and weakside cutting. What needs to be done here is real big man development and sound defensive strategy. Dion isn’t good at man defense rotations yet, but his on-ball d is strong. A good coach would be teaching those rotations and killing Kyrie in defense on the fundamentals of fighting picks and passing off penetration effectively.

Kyrie didnt get practice time at Duke to play that pressure D that isn’t nba effective and you know High School didn’t leave him with anything resembling fundamentals. Derrick Rose was atrocious on D and Cal actually teaches NBA principles on the college level defensively.

The top 8 talent on this team is 30-35 win worthy. Injuries and coaching can easily torpedo that by 10 wins. Guess what we have now? A hard schedule, an injured leader and no scheming that hides the deficiencies. I’m not surprised at this reaction because this is both Cleveland fandom and blogging… It’s a haven for Chicken Littles. This team has a better plan than most nba teams but worse coaching than almost all. Look at what Mike Dunlap is doing with a soft schedule and about 3.5 NBA players. That’s the kind of inventive scheming and sound teaching that needs to be combined with youthful exuberance.

Mallory, what deal do you want Grant to make? What signings would have assured us that 30 wins we were going to top out at? I’d say that your skepticism at Grant’s plan has to wait until next summer. If Byron is still coaching and there’s no defensive improvement. Then Grant’s being negligent.

Kevin – I think I’m being overly optimistic about Waiters and Varejao. I’d say I’m pessimistic about TT, maybe a bit prematurely. With Kyrie, I think he’s a top 5 offensive player right now but Nate’s post coupled with some analysts I trust have me thinking Kyrie needs to make a concerted effort at the defensive end. My point in posting the pessimistic post was that there are real life data points here that we are ignoring. Is there anything specifically that I posted that you think is either wrong or not a possible outcome? As in, it’s not possible for Irving to continue to get injured or TT to continue to be an offensive liability and less likely to protect the rim? What do you see from the 2nd year players that indicates progress? How about from Byron Scott? If the Cavs traded Varejao right now, would they be the worst team in the NBA? Are we on schedule?

I’d say save the cap room trade assets for next year because there shouldn’t be anything amazing left this year other than a straight up cash dump. I was all for them trading for Harden, but it would have been tough. Dion’s stock wasn’t that high after the summer and preseason. What else is really out there other than guys with terrible contracts? I’m sure they could trade for Amare, or Boozer, but both would be terrible. The luxury tax is going to create more Harden like trades and for now, the usual suspects are all capped out.

I agree with the best odds of winning long term logic and the draft certainly isn’t a magical cure. Sadly there are only a handful of teams in this league who can rebuild on the fly. The Cavs aren’t one of them. I still see the best approach as load up on lottery picks and hope you hit on a couple. The difference between missing on a draft pick and a free agent is pretty large though. Rookies don’t make shit and you can dump them after two years. You can’t do that with vets. The wrong move can cripple you. Look at what the Boozer signing did to the bench mob. They would have been better off long term keeping Asik.

Even if it takes Thompson four years to mature, he won’t gobble up a good portion of the cap and the Cavs would still be able to match any restricted offer. Patience and not making stupid decisions are paramount. This is a part of the patience. People can lambast Grant for not bringing Green back last year but he wouldn’t have changed the bottom line.

People compare Kyrie to Lebron and Durant’s assents, but he’ll probably never have the long term impact of either of those players. The Cavs are rebuilding. It takes time. It took the Grizzlies years to get where they are now after the Pau trade. They did it by going back to the lottery and opening up their salary restraints to bring in players like ZBo. The Pau trade is what made them relevant again and they traded Kevin Love for OJ Mayo. Then there was Thabeet. That’s too major oops moments and they have the best record in the West. Grant isn’t going to hit on everything. No GM does. If he can build a core or 3 or 4 franchise cornerstone players from the draft and then add solid players around them we will be in a good place in the near future.

These pups need to grow into their paws. It’s gonna take time. It sucks but it could be worse and it was two years ago.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, onto the substance. I think the Cavs are, for the most part, on the right track. Kyrie is a stud. Sure, his defense is lacking right now, but we can’t forget the he has to carry the bulk of the team’s offense at this point, too. And if I do say so myself, that’s a job he’s been doing quite well. With his offensive production, which we will likely see continue to improve from it’s already All-Star levels, if he peaks defensively as a “slightly below average” defender, I’ll be more than satisfied, and that’s something that I think we’ll see him achieve in the next season or two.

As far as him being “injury prone”, I think that’s a load of it. If you look at the injuries he’s had, I think they’re more the result of bad luck than being prone to injury. None of his injuries are the nagging or recurring kind (think Steph Curry, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden). And let’s face it, if the Cavs were a contender this year and we were deep in the season, we would have likely seen Kyrie back in action sooner than a month. Why risk further injury when you’re not really playing for anything?

Andy is arguably the best big man in the East this season. He’s putting up man sized numbers, plus let’s not forget that he’s a veteran leader, something this team needs. I’ll be very upset if the Cavs decide to trade him, lest we get an absurdly good package in return. He’s one of the most underrated players in the NBA at this point.

As far as the rest of the young players that make up the core of the team, I’m pretty optimistic. Dion of course has plenty of room for improvement, but I think he’s going to be a good partner for Kyrie in what could win up being one of the most prolific guard combos in the NBA. Obviously, his FG percentage needs to come up, and I think with better shot selection that will naturally rise. I think Alonzo Gee has lived up to expectations so far this year and I can see him being a key part of a winning Cavaliers squad. What I really like to see out of him is consistency from behind the arc. If he can hit his threes at a 35%+ clip, that would be a dangerous offensive weapon when paired with Kyrie and Dion.

I’m optimistic about TT and Zeller, maybe not in the same light as Kyrie and Dion, but I feel they can be at the very worst two solid bench options on a winning team. I don’t expect TT to become anywhere near an “elite-level” scorer, but I would like to see him develop more offensively. He’s still a bit of a work in progress, but overall I think it’s much too soon to give up on him as some that have posted here have seemed to do. As far as Zeller goes, it’s really too early to pass judgement, but I think he will live up to his billing as a “safe-pick”, and be able to provide a solid impact off of the bench on a regular basis. He does need to add weight, and his offensive numbers need to improve as well, but I think that’s going to happen.

As far as the bench goes, with the exception of Zeller, the only two players I would like to see have a role on this team in the future are Pargo and Miles (providing he can turn around his early season woes). Pargo has played pretty well in Kyrie’s absence, and if he continues to play pretty well in a backup role following Kyrie’s return, I think he deserves a spot on next year’s squad. Miles has seemed to play better as of late, and I’m going to wait to pass judgement on him as far as his future in Cleveland goes. I guess we could throw Boobie Gibson into this conversation as well, but only if we can’t make an improvement in free agency or the draft, and of course, if Boobie plays well enough the rest of this season to merit the consideration of being with this team in the future.

Sure, our record sucks right now. There’s no denying that. However, as it’s been stated in previous posts, we’ve had a pretty tough schedule which has mainly had us playing road games against playoff caliber teams. And the thing is, we’ve been competitive in basically all of our games this season. Had the bench not played like middle-schoolers through the first 10 games or so, we might be sitting around .500. We’ve also had problems closing out tight games late, which is a sign of a young team still learning how to win games, especially games against playoff-bound teams on the road. Even with Kyrie out, this team has still been a tough squad to beat. We’re making teams earn it, and we’ve just not been able to close out the games we should win.

Seeing as we’re headed to another lottery, unless an improbable and miraculous double-digit win streak propels us back into contention, and we have ample cap space available at the end of this season, I’m confident that we can add more pieces to help this team become a winner. Early draft projections have a few options at either SF or PF/C at the top of the rankings, and at this point I would have to think the Cavs will use their first pick in this year’s draft on one of those positions.

Overall, yes, this year has been tough. We’ve lost some games we probably should have won. It’s been disappointing. However, I think much of that can be attributed to being a young team that’s still learning to play together and close out games, poor play from the bench (which has been better lately), and being on the road constantly against playoff-quality opponents. Although there is plenty of room for improvement, I can’t help but feeling like the team is headed in the right direction.

One thing I didn’t touch on was Coach Scott. At this point, and as much as I like him, I do have some doubts that he’s the man for the job, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel on him yet either. Let’s see how the rest of this season goes.

Just checked out this podcast. Fantastic work, Mallory. Be sure to thank Scott for me. I’m going to have to read that copy of The Whore of Akron that’s been sitting on my shelf for over a year. (I wasn’t quite ready emotionally). I’m going to have to start reading his stuff in Esquire, too. I read Tom Junod a lot on there, and he’s fantastic. Love to see the passion of the Cavs fans here. Thanks for your enthusiasm, everyone.

Seriously, guys, let’s find some middle ground – Can’t we be a little concerned about the development of our players, while being a little optimistic in the brief flashes of NBA competence we see (ie: Our starting lineup sports pretty solid plus-minus numbers as a five man unit?)

You can keep cherry picking rookie stats all you want Tom, but the fact of the matter is most rookies aren’t very great right off the bat. Especially someone like Thompson, who was a known project. Dion and Zeller are literally 13 games into their NBA careers. The game’s moving a bit fast for them. I don’t know if they’ll pan out, but to act like we have any idea on what kind of career they’re going to have is foolhardy. As for TT, it’s not particularly encouraging, but he’s got one of the best +- numbers on the team (if not the best, I may be wrong here.)

We’re not very good right now, but at this stage, there’s no point in being miserable – We’re getting to see flashes of an NBA team that’s pretty fun to watch, when they’re on. Is that so bad after dealing with what we’ve dealt with the past two years? I’m having fun watching the Cavs play for the first time since LeBron left. Yes, I want them to keep getting better, and no, I’m not sure if they’re going in entirely the right direction. And none of you do. I’ll give Christ Grant just enough of a benefit of the doubt to allow myself to allow him to succeed, while not ignoring the fact that he has to be accountable for his successes and failures.

Calm down, enjoy watching the Cavs trot out lineups that don’t include starting Lester Hudson and Donald Sloan, and give it time – I don’t know how this Cavaliers team will develop, and neither do you – So relax, don’t namecall one another, and lets see how this team will grow.

Hate to say this but the bloggers here are very unimaginative for being the geeks and dork kids they seem to be… “Cavs: The Blog”? What an edgy and creative name lol! Since the Cavs are not going to win the championship this year I am completely happy taking a high lottery pick as a consolation. I have full confidence in their OBVIOUS PLAN to add significant pieces in the 2013 draft and free agency due to the CBA. Why is this hard to grasp? Next year we will definitely be built to make a playoff push, and in the following year or two we could contend for a title. This team is way too young and unexperienced to make such progress right now but will absolutely be dangerous starting next season and increasingly so in the following years.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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